Remote working, often associated with the term telecommuting, is ‘a situation in which an employee works mainly from home and communicates with the company by email and telephone’ (Cambridge Business English Dictionary 2017). Remote working therefore offers staff the opportunity to do work that would have previously done in an office, at home. With the forever developing world of technology, it can be argued that remote working will continue to become easier and easier, due to plentiful methods of communication. This suggests that remote working will become a trend as it thriving in relation to society, with a resulting dominant role within the work place.
Due to the vast areas that remote working targets, it is a topic of which is heavily reliant to society. Bailey, D., Kurland, N. (2002) suggest that there are many areas of organisations which remote working targets, with some including; ‘decreased real-estate costs’, ‘responses to employees’ needs for a healthy work–family balance’, and ‘aids compliance with the 1990 Americans with Disabilities Act’. They also suggest that ‘telework also has been promoted as a way to reduce air pollution and traffic congestion’. This report will now argue whether or not remote working is new, a trend and a management practice.
2. Why remote working is new
Suggesting that remote working is a new concept is arguably not the case due to early research which suggests that individuals have been working at home since 1970. The earliest academic literature of the beginnings of remote working dates back to 1970 when the OPEC Oil Crisis occurred, resulting in quadrupled oil prices Amadeo (2017). As a result of this, Jack Nilles became renowned for finding ways reduce commuting miles. This was achieved whilst he was working for NASA where Niles set up a telework project.
More recent to this, The Clean Air Act of 1990 was introduced, which was designed to reduce the emissions from both mobile and stationary sources. As a result of this, for businesses to attain their corporate social responsibility, many large companies considered various method to reduce their global footprint. ‘The ‘1990’s was the true beginning of the electronic age’ Kiger (2014), where mobile phones really began to change the way in which we communicated. These two factors interlinked, and a development occurred in the rise of remote workers as the more accessible and reliable technology provided an opportunity for remote working to be successful.
As a result of the growing amount of employees wishing to participate in remote working, it is going to cause challenges in regards to the way in which managers organise their workforce. Staples, D., Hulland, J., Higgins, C. (1998) identified one cause of change as ‘information technology is enabling new organisational structures that are challenging traditional management thinking’. This statement was later backed up by a theory from Hartman and Guss, 1996, as mentioned in Staples, D., Hulland, J., Higgins, C. (1998) ‘who suggest one structure being that of a ‘virtual organisation’. This simply refers to ‘individuals working towards a common goal, but without centralized buildings’. It should therefore be considered that the management techniques of managers are going to need to consider ways to ensure that those individuals who are not working in the physical office still feel valued in the organisation. Therefore, as it is going to challenge the workplace environment and managers’ techniques, it suggests that remote working is accordingly a new concept.
Although the idea of remote working has been acknowledged for many decades, it was not until the 2000’s when remote working became academically analysed and a talking point, with remote working being the headline to many new articles. One example of this is an article from The Independent as ‘Over four million Britons abandon workplace in favour of working from home, says study’ Owen (2015). With the on going development of technology, it is enabling remote working to gain popularity amongst both employees and employers. The growing popularity of this concept in clear in research from the National Bureau of Economic Research as mentioned in Blackley (2016) who ‘found that the average worker would take an 8 percent pay cut’ to enable them to work at home.
3. Technology and remote working
As previously mentioned, remote working is not a new concept. Despite this, technology (specifically the internet) has undoubtedly had a vast impact in the ways and efficiency of remote working within the workplace. It is unquestionable that remote working when it first occurred (during the 1970s) was carried out using the same methods than in the 20th Centaury. In consequence, it can thus be argued that remote working is new in this sense.
The advancement of technology allows for an ever so flexible working environment, enabling employees to work anywhere any when with an ease of communication. In previous years, emailing and telephone calls were the two main forms of communication in a telecommuting environment. Now, with todays current technology, the means of communication are far more diverse and applications such as Google Drive and Dropbox provide a place for virtual group work to take place. Furthermore, Skype conference calls are a means of holding virtual face-to-face meetings. To summarise in the words of an academic, Holland, P., Bardoel, A. (2015) describes technology in remote working as ‘the use and control of high-technology provides an opportunity to be innovative in when we work, where we work and the way we work’
According to the BBC, it was not until 1999 (30 years after it was invented) that the internet really took off. Fig. 1. displays the rapid growth of the internet trend from 1999-2011, with the largest incline being from 2009-2011.
Fig.1. (Groth, A., Nisen, M. (2013))
Although the picture of the use of internet for successful remote working appears to be a somewhat conclusive image, this is arguably not the case for those living in rural areas. A report by the Countryside Alliance (2015) raised the issue that in rural areas, there are many individuals ‘who are stuck with very slow broadband, or even ancient dial-up’. A resulting factor may be that remote working is not necessarily practical for those living in rural areas. Because of this, rural telecommuters may have to relocate to an area which has more efficient internet connections, which in some instances defeats the objective of remote working. If the problem of poor internet connection arose, managers would need to consider factors such as potentially poor connections during conference calls, or online work projects using software such as ‘Googledocs’. This would degrade the efficiency of telecommuting and managers would need to reconsider their management practice.
4. The demographics of remote workers
There is adequate evidence which suggests remote working is fast becoming widely popular, but this type of working does not suit everyone. Flexibility appears to be the most attractive factor, of which is a topic strongly associated with millenials. For this reason, remote working is stereotyped to millennials. A recent study carried out by TINYpulse (2016) studied 509 employees, with 41% of respondents stating that they ‘enjoy having the freedom of choosing when and where to work’. This is clear with research which also found that ‘58% work in a team made up entirely of remote workers’. With this in mind, because millennials know that they are able to contact their co-workers from anywhere, they are beginning to realise that they do not have to physically be in a physical office.
5. Is remote working a new trend?
As early research identified that the earliest cases of remote working began as a resulting factor of the OPEC Oil Crisis, it can be argued that remote working was an effect from a natural economic disaster. Hawkpartners (2017) define a trend as something which ‘is triggered when a larger force asserts itself on a culture, forcing that culture to respond and change’. In relation to the early findings, it may be argued that in this instance, remote working can be deemed as a trend due to it originally being triggered by a natural disaster, causing factors of social life to change. For example, due to the rising price of oil from the oil crisis, for workers to get to work, it undoubtedly would be more expensive. Therefore, alternative methods needed to be considered, of which remote working originated. From this date, there is a plentiful array of evidence to suggest that remote working continued, and arguably grew in popularity. A report by Brooks, C. (2015) found that over the last 20 years, those who are or have at one point in their career worked at home one day a month has grown more than 300 percent. The below graph displays their findings.
Fig. 2. (Original source Harris, A (2017). Information gathered from Groth, A., Nisen, M. (2013))
As presented, there is clear evidence of a rise in those working from home over the previous years. Although this data suggests that there is a clear indication in the rise of those deciding to work from home, this does not necessarily suggest that remote working is however a trend.
The concept of remote working has evidently been around for a while, but only recently has theory started to be applied in management research and practice, creating a trend around this concept. Organisations such as ACAS have identified the growth in homeworking and have released relevant articles to guide both employees and employers on how to practice home working for themselves or in their organisation. Their publication ‘Homeworking- a guide for employers and employees’ terminates to advise that ‘research shows that employees reporting the greatest job satisfaction and work-life balance are those who work from home some of the time’ ACAS (2014). Therefore, for organisations who are heavily focused on employee satisfaction and their work-life balance should look to include the remote working trend into their organisation if they are not already doing so. This is heavily promoted through many news outlets, such as ‘The Independent’ with the article ‘Over four million Britons abandon workplace in favour of working from home, says study’ Owen, J. (2015) who promotes the idyllic working situation of remote working, creating a ‘buzz’, and therefore creating a trend around remote working.
Although the above evidence suggests that remote working is beneficial to the employee, and heavily promoted as the ‘best case scenario’, there is recent research in management practice which suggests that remote working is not as glorious as it is made out to be. Cooper, C and Kurland, N (2002) found that ‘managerial control issues and employee isolation concerns are inextricably linked’. Although there is a lot of research which concluded to similar results, this is not portrayed heavily throughout media channels. One cause for this may be that for something to be ‘newsworthy’, it needs to have a significant impact on a large group of people. One reason therefor why remote working may appear to be trending is due to the to recent issues with public transport and the various strikes. Therefore, the idea of being able to not have to commute seems like a good solution, which would create a ‘better’ life for employees. However, the drawbacks of remote working, such of that mention in this section are not heavily promoted due to the negative impact it would have on individuals.
6. Two organisations views on remote working
Considering that remote working has been identified as such a growing trend within the work place, two large organisations; IBM and Yahoo has very opposing views of this topic from a management perspective. The later paragraphs will explore their views from a managerial perspective.
6.1. Yahoo case study
In 2013, Marissa Mayer announced that she would be stopping remote working at Yahoo. Her reasoning for doing so was ‘to become the absolute best place to work, communication and collaboration will be important. So we need to be working side-to-side. That is why it is critical that we are all present in our offices’. A video by CNN (2013) considered the reasoning of this decision was that it was to either a) cut staff (by those not wanting to be in the actual office to leave) and b) employees would be more productive in a work office environment as opposed to at home. This was a very controversial management decision at the time of its announcement, although it appeared to have been a successful strategy as a statement from Yahoo’s senior director Julie Ford-Tempesta stated that ‘employee engagement is up, product launches have increased significantly, and agile teams are thriving’ Lindsay, G. (2013).
CNN (2013)
6.2. IBM case study
Contrary to this, IBM take the complete opposite approach in terms of remote working and think of it as a productive management strategy from the perspective of both the employee and enterprise. They believe that from an employees’ perspective, working at home allows the opportunity to work anywhere, anytime and in anyplace, which creates a choice. From an enterprise view, remote working creates the freedom to drive much more productivity out of the workforce, enable the chance to operate much more globally, reduce cost and improve
service levels. Therefore, it is clear that organisations take different approaches for remote working, with debatable reasons for their decisions. From the two above arguments, the conclusion that can be drawn is that there is no right way for what organisations should do, and they should carry out the practice that the managers feel best suit their workforce.
IBM Services (2011)
7. Advantages of remote working
Research has found various reasons supporting why remote working can be an advantage to the employee, with a main one being increased flexibility and a healthy work-life balance which in turn creates better job satisfaction. There are many reasons which suggest why remote working creates flexibility, as outlined below by Lake, A. (2013).
Figure 3. (Lake, A. (2013))
In this model, it is concerned around the issue of smart flexibility which in this context is defined as ‘all the forms of working that fit into the ‘flexible working’ and ‘work anywhere’ boxes.’ As displayed, there are many benefits associated with remote working that create flexible working. Most notably, there are many ways in which employees are able to work when working ‘remotely working’. Because of this, it creates counter-advantages which branch off of the flexibility created, such as no need for relocation as the job can be carried out where the employee is. Furthermore, the job can be carried out in a schedule that fits in with the employee, and remote working also creates a better work/life balance. This can be deemed as especially important for mothers as they are able to be there for their children when needed. Arguably, a factor which should also be considered in relation to the better work/family balance created is that mothers, in particular new mothers, often pause their career/quit their job when they have a new born. As a result of this, it often puts the mother to a disadvantage as it puts back their skills and makes it harder for them to get a job once the child is grown up. Therefore, another advantage of flexible working is that it allows for mothers continue their work whilst they are a mother.
A second common advantage associated with remote working is that the commute time of employees is less/ no time at all. A study by Kelliher, C., Anderson, D. (2010) found that ‘employees worked the time saved by not commuting to work, rather than using it for non-work activities’. Therefore, there is one side to the argument to suggest that remote working is successful in the overall work ethic of employees. As opposed to the previously mentioned point, this advantage is also beneficial to the organisation as if employees are travelling for few hours and spending this time to work, it will reduce the organisations carbon footprint and increase the amount of work that is being carried out.
8. Disadvantages of remote working
A major disadvantage of remote working is that it can create isolation for employees, as they may not feel part of the team. Due to being located in a remote location, often with no one else works at the same organisation, they are going to have a lack of physical interaction. Wayne, C. (2000) argue that as a result of this, the deficiencies of a lack in communication ‘can raise issues of trust’. They then further go on to identify that ‘trust is critical in a virtual team because traditional social control based on authority gives way to self-direction and self-control’. To summarise this, Wayne, C. (2000) are suggesting that they management need to be sure that the staff are carrying out their duties for the organisation. Therefore, not only can isolation and lack of communication be a disadvantage for the employee, but it also causes a need for managers to change their management strategies.
Although flexibility created through remote working has many advantages, there are also drawbacks to these advantages. Many academics and businesses argue that the work/life balance created through flexibility is not effective, as too many distractions are created. An example of this is demonstrated above with the Yahoo case study. Although remote working may appear beneficial to the employee, for the business itself this may not be the case. If employees are happier in their work place as they are able to be more flexible, but they are not carrying out the required work on time and to a standard that they would have in a physical office, then this is not going to be of advantage to the organisation.
9. Conclusion
9.1. Is remote working a trend?
To conclude, the argument of remote working being new is a debatable argument as both sides have strong evidence. As remote working has been around since 1970, this does not argue the case for remote working being new. On the other hand, it was not until the 2000’s that remote working was academically analysed and a talking point in media. With this in mind, I believe that remote working is therefore new as from the 2000’s, as a real insight to remote working was created, which has lead to true knowledge of the subject.
9.2. Is remote working new?
In regards as to whether remote working is trend, there are strong arguments to persuade that it is a trend. Although evidence such as the argument that ‘managerial control issues and employee isolation concerns are inextricably linked’ suggest that remote can be deemed as a hazardous trend for the employee, there are many arguments for remote working which outweigh this. I believe one of these arguments is due to the impact that remote working has on the environment, with the reduction of organisations carbon footprint when employees do not have to commute. Therefore, I believe that remote working is a trend because of the currently global warming situation and the lengths organisations will go to to show that they are doing the most for the environment that they can.
9.3. Is remote working a management practice?
Throughout the whole wiki, the argument as to whether remote working is a management practice has been frequently argued. To conclude this argument, due to the lengths and adaptations that managers have to go to in ensuring their employers are content when working remotely, remote working is a management practice. In most cases, managers have to adapt their management styles, such as how they hold their meetings to ensure that employees are engaged and feel part of the organisation. Therefore, remote working can be deemed as a management practice.
Bailey, D., Kurland, N. (2002) 'A review of telework research: findings, new directions, and lessons for the study of modern work'. To be published in Journal of Organizational Behavior, 23, 383–400 [Preprint]. Available at: http://www.csun.edu/~nkurland/PDFs/JOB%20Bailey_Kur%20tcg%202002.pdf (Accessed: 2nd February 2017).
Cooper, C., Kurland, N. (2002) 'Manager control and employee isolation in telecommuting environments', The Journal of High Technology Management Research, Volume 13, Issue 1, 107-126. Available at: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1047831001000517 (Accessed: 3rd February 2017).
Holland, P., Bardoel, A. (2015) 'Special issue of International Journal of Human Resource Management: The impact of technology on work in the twenty-first century: exploring the smart and dark side'. To be published inThe International Journal of Human Resource Management Volume 26, Issue 11 [Preprint]. Available at: http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/09585192.2015.1021155?journalCode=rijh20& (Accessed: 3rd February 2017).
Staples, D., Hulland, J., Higgins, C. (1998) 'A Self-Efficacy Theory Explanation for the Management of Remote Workers in Virtual Organizations'. To be published in Journal of Computer- Mediated Communication, Volume 3, issue 4 [Preprint]. Available at: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1083-6101.1998.tb00085.x/full (Accessed: 1st February 2017).
Remote working (285680)
1. What is remote working?
1. What is remote working?
toc
2. Why remote working is new
3. Technology and remote working
4. The demographics of remote workers
5. Is remote working a new trend?
6. Two organisations views on remote working
6.1. Yahoo case study
6.2. IBM case study
7. Advantages of remote working
8. Disadvantages of remote working
9. Conclusion
9.1. Is remote working a trend?
9.2. Is remote working new?
9.3. Is remote working a management practice?
10. References
Remote working, often associated with the term telecommuting, is ‘a situation in which an employee works mainly from home and communicates with the company by email and telephone’ (Cambridge Business English Dictionary 2017). Remote working therefore offers staff the opportunity to do work that would have previously done in an office, at home. With the forever developing world of technology, it can be argued that remote working will continue to become easier and easier, due to plentiful methods of communication. This suggests that remote working will become a trend as it thriving in relation to society, with a resulting dominant role within the work place.Table of Contents
Due to the vast areas that remote working targets, it is a topic of which is heavily reliant to society. Bailey, D., Kurland, N. (2002) suggest that there are many areas of organisations which remote working targets, with some including; ‘decreased real-estate costs’, ‘responses to employees’ needs for a healthy work–family balance’, and ‘aids compliance with the 1990 Americans with Disabilities Act’. They also suggest that ‘telework also has been promoted as a way to reduce air pollution and traffic congestion’. This report will now argue whether or not remote working is new, a trend and a management practice.
2. Why remote working is new
Suggesting that remote working is a new concept is arguably not the case due to early research which suggests that individuals have been working at home since 1970. The earliest academic literature of the beginnings of remote working dates back to 1970 when the OPEC Oil Crisis occurred, resulting in quadrupled oil prices Amadeo (2017). As a result of this, Jack Nilles became renowned for finding ways reduce commuting miles. This was achieved whilst he was working for NASA where Niles set up a telework project.More recent to this, The Clean Air Act of 1990 was introduced, which was designed to reduce the emissions from both mobile and stationary sources. As a result of this, for businesses to attain their corporate social responsibility, many large companies considered various method to reduce their global footprint. ‘The ‘1990’s was the true beginning of the electronic age’ Kiger (2014), where mobile phones really began to change the way in which we communicated. These two factors interlinked, and a development occurred in the rise of remote workers as the more accessible and reliable technology provided an opportunity for remote working to be successful.
As a result of the growing amount of employees wishing to participate in remote working, it is going to cause challenges in regards to the way in which managers organise their workforce. Staples, D., Hulland, J., Higgins, C. (1998) identified one cause of change as ‘information technology is enabling new organisational structures that are challenging traditional management thinking’. This statement was later backed up by a theory from Hartman and Guss, 1996, as mentioned in Staples, D., Hulland, J., Higgins, C. (1998) ‘who suggest one structure being that of a ‘virtual organisation’. This simply refers to ‘individuals working towards a common goal, but without centralized buildings’. It should therefore be considered that the management techniques of managers are going to need to consider ways to ensure that those individuals who are not working in the physical office still feel valued in the organisation. Therefore, as it is going to challenge the workplace environment and managers’ techniques, it suggests that remote working is accordingly a new concept.
Although the idea of remote working has been acknowledged for many decades, it was not until the 2000’s when remote working became academically analysed and a talking point, with remote working being the headline to many new articles. One example of this is an article from The Independent as ‘Over four million Britons abandon workplace in favour of working from home, says study’ Owen (2015). With the on going development of technology, it is enabling remote working to gain popularity amongst both employees and employers. The growing popularity of this concept in clear in research from the National Bureau of Economic Research as mentioned in Blackley (2016) who ‘found that the average worker would take an 8 percent pay cut’ to enable them to work at home.
3. Technology and remote working
As previously mentioned, remote working is not a new concept. Despite this, technology (specifically the internet) has undoubtedly had a vast impact in the ways and efficiency of remote working within the workplace. It is unquestionable that remote working when it first occurred (during the 1970s) was carried out using the same methods than in the 20th Centaury. In consequence, it can thus be argued that remote working is new in this sense.The advancement of technology allows for an ever so flexible working environment, enabling employees to work anywhere any when with an ease of communication. In previous years, emailing and telephone calls were the two main forms of communication in a telecommuting environment. Now, with todays current technology, the means of communication are far more diverse and applications such as Google Drive and Dropbox provide a place for virtual group work to take place. Furthermore, Skype conference calls are a means of holding virtual face-to-face meetings. To summarise in the words of an academic, Holland, P., Bardoel, A. (2015) describes technology in remote working as ‘the use and control of high-technology provides an opportunity to be innovative in when we work, where we work and the way we work’
According to the BBC, it was not until 1999 (30 years after it was invented) that the internet really took off. Fig. 1. displays the rapid growth of the internet trend from 1999-2011, with the largest incline being from 2009-2011.
Fig.1. (Groth, A., Nisen, M. (2013))
Although the picture of the use of internet for successful remote working appears to be a somewhat conclusive image, this is arguably not the case for those living in rural areas. A report by the Countryside Alliance (2015) raised the issue that in rural areas, there are many individuals ‘who are stuck with very slow broadband, or even ancient dial-up’. A resulting factor may be that remote working is not necessarily practical for those living in rural areas. Because of this, rural telecommuters may have to relocate to an area which has more efficient internet connections, which in some instances defeats the objective of remote working. If the problem of poor internet connection arose, managers would need to consider factors such as potentially poor connections during conference calls, or online work projects using software such as ‘Googledocs’. This would degrade the efficiency of telecommuting and managers would need to reconsider their management practice.
4. The demographics of remote workers
There is adequate evidence which suggests remote working is fast becoming widely popular, but this type of working does not suit everyone. Flexibility appears to be the most attractive factor, of which is a topic strongly associated with millenials. For this reason, remote working is stereotyped to millennials. A recent study carried out by TINYpulse (2016) studied 509 employees, with 41% of respondents stating that they ‘enjoy having the freedom of choosing when and where to work’. This is clear with research which also found that ‘58% work in a team made up entirely of remote workers’. With this in mind, because millennials know that they are able to contact their co-workers from anywhere, they are beginning to realise that they do not have to physically be in a physical office.5. Is remote working a new trend?
As early research identified that the earliest cases of remote working began as a resulting factor of the OPEC Oil Crisis, it can be argued that remote working was an effect from a natural economic disaster. Hawkpartners (2017) define a trend as something which ‘is triggered when a larger force asserts itself on a culture, forcing that culture to respond and change’. In relation to the early findings, it may be argued that in this instance, remote working can be deemed as a trend due to it originally being triggered by a natural disaster, causing factors of social life to change. For example, due to the rising price of oil from the oil crisis, for workers to get to work, it undoubtedly would be more expensive. Therefore, alternative methods needed to be considered, of which remote working originated. From this date, there is a plentiful array of evidence to suggest that remote working continued, and arguably grew in popularity. A report by Brooks, C. (2015) found that over the last 20 years, those who are or have at one point in their career worked at home one day a month has grown more than 300 percent. The below graph displays their findings.Fig. 2. (Original source Harris, A (2017). Information gathered from Groth, A., Nisen, M. (2013))
As presented, there is clear evidence of a rise in those working from home over the previous years. Although this data suggests that there is a clear indication in the rise of those deciding to work from home, this does not necessarily suggest that remote working is however a trend.
The concept of remote working has evidently been around for a while, but only recently has theory started to be applied in management research and practice, creating a trend around this concept. Organisations such as ACAS have identified the growth in homeworking and have released relevant articles to guide both employees and employers on how to practice home working for themselves or in their organisation. Their publication ‘Homeworking- a guide for employers and employees’ terminates to advise that ‘research shows that employees reporting the greatest job satisfaction and work-life balance are those who work from home some of the time’ ACAS (2014). Therefore, for organisations who are heavily focused on employee satisfaction and their work-life balance should look to include the remote working trend into their organisation if they are not already doing so. This is heavily promoted through many news outlets, such as ‘The Independent’ with the article ‘Over four million Britons abandon workplace in favour of working from home, says study’ Owen, J. (2015) who promotes the idyllic working situation of remote working, creating a ‘buzz’, and therefore creating a trend around remote working.
Although the above evidence suggests that remote working is beneficial to the employee, and heavily promoted as the ‘best case scenario’, there is recent research in management practice which suggests that remote working is not as glorious as it is made out to be. Cooper, C and Kurland, N (2002) found that ‘managerial control issues and employee isolation concerns are inextricably linked’. Although there is a lot of research which concluded to similar results, this is not portrayed heavily throughout media channels. One cause for this may be that for something to be ‘newsworthy’, it needs to have a significant impact on a large group of people. One reason therefor why remote working may appear to be trending is due to the to recent issues with public transport and the various strikes. Therefore, the idea of being able to not have to commute seems like a good solution, which would create a ‘better’ life for employees. However, the drawbacks of remote working, such of that mention in this section are not heavily promoted due to the negative impact it would have on individuals.
6. Two organisations views on remote working
Considering that remote working has been identified as such a growing trend within the work place, two large organisations; IBM and Yahoo has very opposing views of this topic from a management perspective. The later paragraphs will explore their views from a managerial perspective.6.1. Yahoo case study
In 2013, Marissa Mayer announced that she would be stopping remote working at Yahoo. Her reasoning for doing so was ‘to become the absolute best place to work, communication and collaboration will be important. So we need to be working side-to-side. That is why it is critical that we are all present in our offices’. A video by CNN (2013) considered the reasoning of this decision was that it was to either a) cut staff (by those not wanting to be in the actual office to leave) and b) employees would be more productive in a work office environment as opposed to at home. This was a very controversial management decision at the time of its announcement, although it appeared to have been a successful strategy as a statement from Yahoo’s senior director Julie Ford-Tempesta stated that ‘employee engagement is up, product launches have increased significantly, and agile teams are thriving’ Lindsay, G. (2013).CNN (2013)
6.2. IBM case study
Contrary to this, IBM take the complete opposite approach in terms of remote working and think of it as a productive management strategy from the perspective of both the employee and enterprise. They believe that from an employees’ perspective, working at home allows the opportunity to work anywhere, anytime and in anyplace, which creates a choice. From an enterprise view, remote working creates the freedom to drive much more productivity out of the workforce, enable the chance to operate much more globally, reduce cost and improveservice levels. Therefore, it is clear that organisations take different approaches for remote working, with debatable reasons for their decisions. From the two above arguments, the conclusion that can be drawn is that there is no right way for what organisations should do, and they should carry out the practice that the managers feel best suit their workforce.
IBM Services (2011)
7. Advantages of remote working
Research has found various reasons supporting why remote working can be an advantage to the employee, with a main one being increased flexibility and a healthy work-life balance which in turn creates better job satisfaction. There are many reasons which suggest why remote working creates flexibility, as outlined below by Lake, A. (2013).Figure 3. (Lake, A. (2013))
In this model, it is concerned around the issue of smart flexibility which in this context is defined as ‘all the forms of working that fit into the ‘flexible working’ and ‘work anywhere’ boxes.’ As displayed, there are many benefits associated with remote working that create flexible working. Most notably, there are many ways in which employees are able to work when working ‘remotely working’. Because of this, it creates counter-advantages which branch off of the flexibility created, such as no need for relocation as the job can be carried out where the employee is. Furthermore, the job can be carried out in a schedule that fits in with the employee, and remote working also creates a better work/life balance. This can be deemed as especially important for mothers as they are able to be there for their children when needed. Arguably, a factor which should also be considered in relation to the better work/family balance created is that mothers, in particular new mothers, often pause their career/quit their job when they have a new born. As a result of this, it often puts the mother to a disadvantage as it puts back their skills and makes it harder for them to get a job once the child is grown up. Therefore, another advantage of flexible working is that it allows for mothers continue their work whilst they are a mother.
A second common advantage associated with remote working is that the commute time of employees is less/ no time at all. A study by Kelliher, C., Anderson, D. (2010) found that ‘employees worked the time saved by not commuting to work, rather than using it for non-work activities’. Therefore, there is one side to the argument to suggest that remote working is successful in the overall work ethic of employees. As opposed to the previously mentioned point, this advantage is also beneficial to the organisation as if employees are travelling for few hours and spending this time to work, it will reduce the organisations carbon footprint and increase the amount of work that is being carried out.
8. Disadvantages of remote working
A major disadvantage of remote working is that it can create isolation for employees, as they may not feel part of the team. Due to being located in a remote location, often with no one else works at the same organisation, they are going to have a lack of physical interaction. Wayne, C. (2000) argue that as a result of this, the deficiencies of a lack in communication ‘can raise issues of trust’. They then further go on to identify that ‘trust is critical in a virtual team because traditional social control based on authority gives way to self-direction and self-control’. To summarise this, Wayne, C. (2000) are suggesting that they management need to be sure that the staff are carrying out their duties for the organisation. Therefore, not only can isolation and lack of communication be a disadvantage for the employee, but it also causes a need for managers to change their management strategies.Although flexibility created through remote working has many advantages, there are also drawbacks to these advantages. Many academics and businesses argue that the work/life balance created through flexibility is not effective, as too many distractions are created. An example of this is demonstrated above with the Yahoo case study. Although remote working may appear beneficial to the employee, for the business itself this may not be the case. If employees are happier in their work place as they are able to be more flexible, but they are not carrying out the required work on time and to a standard that they would have in a physical office, then this is not going to be of advantage to the organisation.
9. Conclusion
9.1. Is remote working a trend?
To conclude, the argument of remote working being new is a debatable argument as both sides have strong evidence. As remote working has been around since 1970, this does not argue the case for remote working being new. On the other hand, it was not until the 2000’s that remote working was academically analysed and a talking point in media. With this in mind, I believe that remote working is therefore new as from the 2000’s, as a real insight to remote working was created, which has lead to true knowledge of the subject.9.2. Is remote working new?
In regards as to whether remote working is trend, there are strong arguments to persuade that it is a trend. Although evidence such as the argument that ‘managerial control issues and employee isolation concerns are inextricably linked’ suggest that remote can be deemed as a hazardous trend for the employee, there are many arguments for remote working which outweigh this. I believe one of these arguments is due to the impact that remote working has on the environment, with the reduction of organisations carbon footprint when employees do not have to commute. Therefore, I believe that remote working is a trend because of the currently global warming situation and the lengths organisations will go to to show that they are doing the most for the environment that they can.9.3. Is remote working a management practice?
Throughout the whole wiki, the argument as to whether remote working is a management practice has been frequently argued. To conclude this argument, due to the lengths and adaptations that managers have to go to in ensuring their employers are content when working remotely, remote working is a management practice. In most cases, managers have to adapt their management styles, such as how they hold their meetings to ensure that employees are engaged and feel part of the organisation. Therefore, remote working can be deemed as a management practice.10. References
ACAS (2014) 'Homeworking- a guide for employers and employees'. Available at: http://m.acas.org.uk/media/pdf/o/3/Homeworking-a-guide-for-employers-and-employees.pdf (Accessed: 4th February 2017).
Albahar. (2016) The Distributed Workforce. Available at: http://mitsloan.mit.edu/student-blogs/new-zealand-innovation/the-distributed-workforce/ (Accessed/downloaded: 3rd February 2017).
Amadeo, K. (2017) OPEC Oil Embargo: Cause and Effects of the Crisis. Available at: https://www.thebalance.com/opec-oil-embargo-causes-and-effects-of-the-crisis-3305806 (Accessed: 13 February 2017).
Bailey, D., Kurland, N. (2002) 'A review of telework research: findings, new directions, and lessons for the study of modern work'. To be published in Journal of Organizational Behavior, 23, 383–400 [Preprint]. Available at:
http://www.csun.edu/~nkurland/PDFs/JOB%20Bailey_Kur%20tcg%202002.pdf (Accessed: 2nd February 2017).
Blackely, J. (2016) 3 technology tips for managing remote employees. Available at: http://eds.b.ebscohost.com/eds/detail/detail?sid=1462aa05-9614-417e-ad91-4158368d4f10%40sessionmgr120&vid=1&hid=122&bdata=JkF1dGhUeXBlPWlwLHNoaWImc2l0ZT1lZHMtbGl2ZQ%3d%3d#AN=119719591&db=bth (Accessed: 3rd February 2017).
Brooks, C. (2015) Are Remote Workers Better Workers?. Available at: http://www.businessnewsdaily.com/8311-remote-work-is-commonplace.html (Accessed: 6th February 2017).
Cambridge Business English Dictionary (2017) Meaning of "remote working" in the English Dictionary. Available at: http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/remote-working (Accessed: 2nd February 2017).
CNN (2013) Yahoo CEO bans employees from working at home. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3-bNbwIc0dI (Accessed: 4th February 2017).
Cooper, C., Kurland, N. (2002) 'Manager control and employee isolation in telecommuting environments', The Journal of High Technology Management Research, Volume 13, Issue 1, 107-126. Available at: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1047831001000517 (Accessed: 3rd February 2017).
Countryside Alliance (2015) Options for those struggling with poor broadband in rural areas. Available at: http://www.countryside-alliance.org/options-for-those-struggling-with-poor-broadband-in-rural-areas/ (Accessed: 5th February 2017).
Groth, A., Nisen, M. (2013) A Revolution Is Happening In Offices Everywhere. Available at: http://www.businessinsider.com/the-future-of-the-workplace-slide-deck-2013-2?op=1&IR=T (Accessed: 2nd February 2017).
Hawkpartners (2017) 'What Makes a Trend?'. Available at: http://hawkpartners.com/trends/what-makes-a-trend (Accessed: 3rd February 2017).
Holland, P., Bardoel, A. (2015) 'Special issue of International Journal of Human Resource Management: The impact of technology on work in the twenty-first century: exploring the smart and dark side'. To be published in The International Journal of Human Resource Management Volume 26, Issue 11 [Preprint]. Available at: http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/09585192.2015.1021155?journalCode=rijh20& (Accessed: 3rd February 2017).
IBM Services (2011) Anywhere, Anytime, Anyplace work force. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VnTS_naBEaA (Accessed: 1st February 2017).
Kelliher, C., Anderson, D. (2010) Doing more with less? Flexible working practices and the intensification of work. Available at: http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/0018726709349199 (Accessed: 2nd February 2017).
Kiger, P. (2014) The '90S: Science and Technology. Available at: http://channel.nationalgeographic.com/the-90s-the-last-great-decade/articles/the-90s-science-and-technology/ (Accessed: 2nd February 2017).
Lindsay, G. (2013) Yahoo Says That Working From Home Is Turning Out Perfectly. Available at: https://www.fastcoexist.com/3020930/yahoo-says-that-killing-working-from-home-is-turning-out-perfectly (Accessed: 2nd February 2017).
Minute MBA by OnlineMBA.com (2013) Telecommuting is Good for You and Your Business. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R2whPdnCGrM (Accessed: 1st February 2017).
Owen, J. (2015) Over four million Britons abandon workplace in favour of working from home, says study. Available at: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/over-four-million-britons-abandon-workplace-in-favour-of-working-from-home-says-study-10298480.html (Accessed: 2nd February 2017).
Staples, D., Hulland, J., Higgins, C. (1998) 'A Self-Efficacy Theory Explanation for the Management of Remote Workers in Virtual Organizations'. To be published in Journal of Computer- Mediated Communication, Volume 3, issue 4 [Preprint]. Available at: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1083-6101.1998.tb00085.x/full (Accessed: 1st February 2017).
TINYpulse (2016) What leaders need to know about remote workers. Available at: https://cdn2.hubspot.net/hubfs/443262/TINYpulse_What_Leaders_Need_to_Know_About_Remote_Workers.pdf?t=1462203875281 (Accessed: 2nd February 2017).
Wayne, C. (2000) 'Managing a virtual workplace', Academy of Management Executive, Vol. 14 Issue 3, p81-90. doi:10.5465/AME.2000.4468068.